{"id":32019,"date":"2025-03-24T08:20:35","date_gmt":"2025-03-24T12:20:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/?p=32019"},"modified":"2025-03-24T08:26:14","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T12:26:14","slug":"yuki-tsunoda-did-very-well-in-red-bull-test-horner","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/24\/yuki-tsunoda-did-very-well-in-red-bull-test-horner\/","title":{"rendered":"Yuki Tsunoda did &#8220;very well&#8221; in Red Bull test &#8211; Horner"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull will spend the next week evaluating their options for the Japanese GP. Perhaps for the first time, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/23\/yuki-tsunoda-could-replace-liam-lawson-at-the-japanese-gp\/\" target=\"_self\">Yuki Tsunoda<\/a> is now a front-runner to become Max Verstappen&#8217;s next teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Despite their previous reservation about Tsunoda, Red Bull appear to be changing their tune.<\/p>\n<p>Recent comments from team principal <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/23\/christian-horner-fails-to-rule-out-tsunoda-and-lawson-swap\/\" target=\"_self\">Christian Horner<\/a> certainly suggest his perspective on Tsunoda has changed.<\/p>\n<h4>Red Bull to revisit data from Tsunoda test<\/h4>\n<p>After Liam Lawson took Daniel Ricciardo&#8217;s seat last September, there were two obvious candidates to replace Sergio Perez.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/23\/franco-colapinto-linked-to-vcarb-move-in-shock-report\/\" target=\"_self\">Colapinto<\/a>, who was briefly under consideration, it was Tsunoda and Lawson fighting for a promotion.<\/p>\n<p>However, Lawson was always Christian Horner&#8217;s preferred choice &#8211; even prior to his comeback last year.<\/p>\n<p>Partly because of this, Horner interpreted Lawson&#8217;s performance last year (despite being slightly slower than Tsunoda) as evidence the Kiwi driver had more potential.<\/p>\n<p>For obvious reasons, this assessment has not aged well at the beginning of 2025.<\/p>\n<p><a id=\"Wmb3caFDTwRqdPoQdUaE0w\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206128139\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Wmb3caFDTwRqdPoQdUaE0w',sig:'ALJq7ughrq-h7Bohc7KmNJWSLh0iLosvzoEv2H8AgjE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2206128139',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<p>In the final weeks of last year, Yuki Tsunoda managed to secure a place in Red Bull&#8217;s post-season test.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, though Lawson was the favourite for a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/20\/red-bull-unfazed-ahead-of-new-flexi-wing-restrictions\/\" target=\"_self\">Red Bull<\/a> seat, this test was seen as an opportunity for Tsunoda to make a case for himself.<\/p>\n<p>More than likely, the Japanese driver&#8217;s performance had no influence on their final decision.<\/p>\n<p>After all, it was <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/06\/yuki-tsunoda-on-his-own-in-securing-f1-seat-say-honda\/\" target=\"_self\">Honda<\/a> who convinced the Austrian outfit to put Tsunoda in the RB20 for the test.<\/p>\n<p>With that said, Lawson&#8217;s poor results have motivated Red Bull to go back and analyse the data.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to Australia and China, the Milton Keynes squad are going through Tsunoda&#8217;s data from the post-season test.<\/p>\n<p>The 24-year-old completed well over a race distance in the RB20 last December.<\/p>\n<p>As a result, this session is a useful reference for Red Bull to judge his chances of adapting.<\/p>\n<p>According to Christian Horner, Tsunoda performed very well in the RB20:<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;He did very well in that test with us,&#8221;<\/em> he told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.motorsport.com\/f1\/news\/lawson-tsunoda-colapinto-red-bull-tough-decisions\/10706695\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Motorsport<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><em>&#8220;It&#8217;s useful data for us, but we always look at the bigger picture.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p><a id=\"-bA1ZglaRg56FofY5wnJpA\" class=\"gie-single\" style=\"color: #a7a7a7; text-decoration: none; font-weight: normal !important; border: none; display: inline-block;\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2206341724\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'-bA1ZglaRg56FofY5wnJpA',sig:'CCGa-aT5dw_yV7m22bCP8cOADbnwzabkLy_Ugx8382o=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2206341724',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src='\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js' charset='utf-8' async><\/script><\/p>\n<h4>A difference of opinion at Red Bull<\/h4>\n<p>One of the most unique aspects of Red Bull&#8217;s management is the dynamic between Christian Horner and Helmut Marko.<\/p>\n<p>Despite both playing a central role in forming the team&#8217;s driver line-ups, they often have disagreements on who to sign.<\/p>\n<p>Nyck de Vries, for example, was put in the VCARB seat largely at Marko&#8217;s adamance. It is understood that Horner was less enthusiastic about the Dutchman.<\/p>\n<p>Regarding Yuki Tsunoda, it is traditionally <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/2025\/03\/16\/helmut-marko-not-moved-by-embarrassing-hadjar-tears\/\" target=\"_self\">Helmut Marko<\/a> who has been more confident in his potential.<\/p>\n<p>The same cannot be said for Horner, with the Red Bull team principal often sceptical about the 24-year-old&#8217;s ceiling.<\/p>\n<p>These reservations are likely what tipped the scale in Lawson&#8217;s favour last December.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, the situation is now very different &#8211; given the performances being delivered by the #30 car.<\/p>\n<p>Even without analysing Tsunoda&#8217;s post-season test, there is no denying that Tsunoda is more experienced than his former teammate.<\/p>\n<p>Aside from this, the evidence suggests the 24-year-old is faster &#8211; regardless of Lawson&#8217;s respectable VCARB appearances in 2023 and 2024.<\/p>\n<p>Having signed De Vries, Ricciardo and Lawson within the space of two years, Red Bull could have little choice but to give Tsunoda his long-awaited opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Christian Horner&#8217;s acknowledgement of Tsunoda&#8217;s strong tests indicates his perspective on the 24-year-old is changing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Red Bull will spend the next week evaluating their options for the Japanese GP. Perhaps for the first time, Yuki Tsunoda is now a front-runner to become Max Verstappen&#8217;s next teammate. Despite their previous reservation about Tsunoda, Red Bull appear to be changing their tune. Recent comments from team principal Christian Horner certainly suggest his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4927,"featured_media":32020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,3],"tags":[2452,78,2394,2246],"class_list":["post-32019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-1","category-news","tag-f1-2025-season","tag-red-bull-racing","tag-tsunoda","tag-vcarb"],"modified_by":"Jaden Diaz-Ndisang","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4927"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32019"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32023,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32019\/revisions\/32023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}